Went for some early steelhead late salmon fishing for the weekend before the big Thanksgiving steelhead opener rush. The first day had alittle scare with a drunk guy and a his rifle. I always leave late at night and camp out before the morning fish. I got to the campground around 1am and nobody else was there. Sitting in my truck I noticed a light about 100 feet in the distance that suddenly went out. Knowing that nobody was at the campground I got a little suspicious. After a few minutes I flicked on my headlights to see a guy leaning against a tree with a rifle starring right at me. He marched/stumbled right up to my truck and demanded to look in my truck. Seeing how he had a gun I obliged him. Turns out somebody had just stolen his chainsaws off his property and he was pretty pissed about it. After he saw I had nothing we got to talking about hunting/fishing and all was well. He fell over once and his speech was very slurred so he was still making me nervous. He eventually just wandered off into the dark.

On to the fishing report. Talked to a few people and heard many reports of people still catching dime bright silvers in the Sol Duc and the Bogey. So I poked around the Sol Duc Friday with no success. The water looked fantastic and I hit a number of spots but I didn't see anything. On my way to the Bark Hole I noticed the gate to Tall Timbers was actually open to my great surprise. I headed down the logging road to one of my favorite spots but didn't manage any hits. Talked to a few fellow fishermen all with the same results. A few boats coming down indicated the fishing at the hatchery run was just ok. Saturday I hit the hatchery run and the fishing was very good. I managed a nice 8 pound buck bobber-doggin a yarnie and shrimp. I also saw about a dozen other fish caught before things went dead around 11am. I also fished Tall Timbers again and fished the Wilson boat launch area but no luck. The few people I ran into gave the same reports that it was pretty dead. Sunday I hit the hatchery run again and it was very dead. I saw 2 fish landed the entire morning. I did manage to hook a nice steelhead drifting a yarnie w/shrimp in a deep fast hole but he shot out into the white water and I lost it. Fished Tall Timbers again before heading home with no results. I was surprised that no fish were holding in the area as the water in the hatchery area dropped and cleared. I think the rain early in the week pushed a few early fish up into the hatchery area and they got cleaned out by fishermen by Sunday morning. Without any rain I think the Thanksgiving steelhead weekend is gonna be a stinker for us bank fishermen. Hopefully Tall Timbers gate will remain open for the season. So please respect the land and maybe they will keep it open for us.

---